Hi i'm new to this forum and hopefully i post this thread in the right place. (Dear Mob kindly move my thread if it's not suitable here, thanks )

Hi everyone and Tom, I'm from Singapore and this is the 1st time i started with my very own little aquarium and taking it up seriously as a hobby. As i'm still newbie, i really need the advice of many Aquarius here.

After setting up my 1st tank like 3 week ago, i decided to fully focus in planting and Aquascaping to make it look better as well for a better living place for my fishes.

After google online and searching through forum, i know that in order to maintain and successful in reaching my goal, there are many changes that i need to make. But i'm doing it with no or little experience.

This is the tank i started with, it's pretty simple and the detail of my aquarium is here:
45x30x30
36.45 litres
Boyu SP-602F QMAX： 340L/h
Lighting: the box said 9W

I decided to take steps by step instead of spending on everything without knowing will it works or not.

Step1: I want to grow Hemianthus callitrichoides Cuba and let it cover the foreground and spread eventually. this step is the most challenging step as it's not easy for Hemianthus callitrichoides to grow and spread. I bought the plant and i planted them onto the foregound already

I know the lighting and c02 is vital to the grow of this plant and the current problem i having is the lighting.

Lighting: the box said 9W

I believe not enough right?
bcoz of my little 9W lighting is low and i dun intent to change right now so i position the light right next to the HC temporarily to provide more lighting strength.

Question: If i would like to change the lighting, how many W of lighting and which brand are good and i hear those term like T5 T6, what does that mean?

Diffuser
BUT i do not know if it fail bcoz of the counter/trap.
after i connect the tube to the counter/trap, i notice the different between with the trap and without it. without the trap and directly to the diffuser, it take a while for me to see tiny bubble coming up the glass up.
When i connect to the trap be it the jar or the syringe tube, i can almost never see the tiny air comes out from the glass diffuser.

currently i removed the trap and direct it to the diffuser and it's work with tiny bubble coming out.

But then as i do more research, i realise the C02 dissolve in the water is NOT THE TINY BUBBLE coming out from the diffuser, they slowly dissolve through the glass and those excess gases will then come out from the diffuser thus forming the tiny bubble rising up. Is this ture?

The bottle is actually a CO2 generator, not “reactor”. Reactor is something else.

About the trap, if there is no leak, it will take more time before the pressure
is high enough because of more space for the gas to fill up.

Your tank is small enough for 1 bottle of generator but I doubt the reliability
of single bottle system. The bubble rate will be high enough only in first few days
before tapering down. 2 bottle system (change one at a time) will be better
in this regard but the bubble rate can be too high for this size tank, require
more tinkering.

i was thinking to get a cheap second hand C02. and hopefully that will solve much problem.

Do u recommend me which kind of plant supplement from seachem to dose for my HC. currently with the C02 and upcoming new light, i think the last pointer is plant supplement. Which model of seachem product is best to provide my HC what it's short of? thanks every1 for your time and advice, should my HC success, i will post the picture out and share my newbie experience

Lifetime Member

I think your goals are admirable, planted tank is a good home for fish and if you make it look as nice as the picture you aspire you are a world-class aquarist; far beyond my meager abilities.

The tank may be a touch small for your fish load, but the only one really out of place is the Neon Tetra, Paracheirodon innesi, really needs more room and at least five more of them.

The Guppies, Poecilia reticulata are going to be a little crowded, in particular should those be two males and three females.

Make sure the Otto’s, Otocinclus Affinis, have plenty to eat, blanched zucchini, Romain lettuce, squash are favorites and necessary. Water quality is a real issue with the Ottos.

The dyi CO2 system is a bit unstable and it is better to have too much, in other words wasted, or extra CO2 coming out.

I recommend a two-bottle system, use check valves from each ‘generator,’ into your water bottle. Start the bottles a few days apart, that way you can change out the CO2 ‘generator, which is also known as a bio-reactor. Two-liter bottles would likely give you two or so weeks per bottle, so you could change one out each week with your water change.

Yes, you need nutrients, use the EI dosing from the beginning and save yourself headaches later.

I think your goals are admirable, planted tank is a good home for fish and if you make it look as nice as the picture you aspire you are a world-class aquarist; far beyond my meager abilities.

The tank may be a touch small for your fish load, but the only one really out of place is the Neon Tetra, Paracheirodon innesi, really needs more room and at least five more of them.

The Guppies, Poecilia reticulata are going to be a little crowded, in particular should those be two males and three females.

Make sure the Otto’s, Otocinclus Affinis, have plenty to eat, blanched zucchini, Romain lettuce, squash are favorites and necessary. Water quality is a real issue with the Ottos.

The dyi CO2 system is a bit unstable and it is better to have too much, in other words wasted, or extra CO2 coming out.

I recommend a two-bottle system, use check valves from each ‘generator,’ into your water bottle. Start the bottles a few days apart, that way you can change out the CO2 ‘generator, which is also known as a bio-reactor. Two-liter bottles would likely give you two or so weeks per bottle, so you could change one out each week with your water change.

Yes, you need nutrients, use the EI dosing from the beginning and save yourself headaches later.

I recommend doubling the lighting to at least 18 watts.

Biollante

Click to expand...

Hey thanks alot for your advice regarding my concern.

anyway i came back quite late today and also i re-scape my aquarium. It's half way done as i haven't got the rock yet and it's cloudy. i will show u the new look of my tank and i need to get back to sleep. BUT i will reply to your vital advice tomorrow as i'm pretty tired so i can't really think, lol.

Oh ya i got a Q, regarding ageing water, how about using those boiling water that we made and use it on our tank(i mean after the water has cool down). Does boiling water kill the Chlorine & Chloramine? as after rescape and i remove some dirt and somehow the aquarium water level is lower but i do not dare to use directly from tap again. If boiling water can't then i got to age it 24H and dose the water with seachem prime right? correct me if i'm wrong. really thank and i'm very tired so got to sleep now. will get back here again late evening tomorrow.

Lifetime Member

I run my water for aquarium use through a carbon filter; I used to use a filter cartridge filter designed for icemakers on refrigerators. Carbon filters are an effective way to remove chlorine and chloramines. I don’t think many people age their water anymore, water particularly if aerated and left open is an effective way to remove chlorine, but not so effective when it comes to chloramines.

Boiling for 20 minutes is an effective, if inefficient (and potentially hazardous) way to remove (reduce) chloramines, but not so effective for removing chlorine.

Mainly I think the best approach with a small aquarium would be the use of one of the many excellent water conditioners on the market.

Living in an advanced city such as Singapore, I would assume the use of chloramines.

I think your goals are admirable, planted tank is a good home for fish and if you make it look as nice as the picture you aspire you are a world-class aquarist; far beyond my meager abilities.

The tank may be a touch small for your fish load, but the only one really out of place is the Neon Tetra, Paracheirodon innesi, really needs more room and at least five more of them.

The Guppies, Poecilia reticulata are going to be a little crowded, in particular should those be two males and three females.

Make sure the Otto’s, Otes anocinclus Affinis, have plenty to eat, blanched zucchini, Romain lettuce, squash are favoritd necessary. Water quality is a real issue with the Ottos.

The dyi CO2 system is a bit unstable and it is better to have too much, in other words wasted, or extra CO2 coming out.

I recommend a two-bottle system, use check valves from each ‘generator,’ into your water bottle. Start the bottles a few days apart, that way you can change out the CO2 ‘generator, which is also known as a bio-reactor. Two-liter bottles would likely give you two or so weeks per bottle, so you could change one out each week with your water change.

Yes, you need nutrients, use the EI dosing from the beginning and save yourself headaches later.

I recommend doubling the lighting to at least 18 watts.

Biollante

Click to expand...

the neon is got 40 little of them.
the guppy i got both male and female.
i had remove the Otes anocinclus Affinis because they are too active and keep digging my sand and all the HC and sand in real mess. lol

I bought the sachem trace as nutrients for the plant for now.
I will change the light to T5 36W.
The C02 will be a bit of issue. i think i have to stick on to it 1st and maybe get a real cheap manual C02 system.

Lifetime Member

Looks nice so far. You may find that you're quite overstocked but the width of the tank may be misleading in the photos. I noticed you had the venturi running on the filter in one photo, was that just to clear up the water or were you trying to run your CO2 through that as well? Are you still using your homebuilt bubble counter from the first page? Did you ever clear up the lack of bubbles with it?

Lifetime Member

Do you have any photos of your carbon filter setup? I keep thinking I ought to go in that direction since I do stupid amounts of water changes and there has to be a simpler way to do this.... Do you have any brand recommendations or cartridge types/sizes?

-
S

Biollante;40046 said:

I run my water for aquarium use through a carbon filter; I used to use a filter cartridge filter designed for icemakers on refrigerators. Carbon filters are an effective way to remove chlorine and chloramines. I don’t think many people age their water anymore, water particularly if aerated and left open is an effective way to remove chlorine, but not so effective when it comes to chloramines.

Boiling for 20 minutes is an effective, if inefficient (and potentially hazardous) way to remove (reduce) chloramines, but not so effective for removing chlorine.

Mainly I think the best approach with a small aquarium would be the use of one of the many excellent water conditioners on the market.

Living in an advanced city such as Singapore, I would assume the use of chloramines.

Lifetime Member

In the past I simply used standard whole house sediment filters prior to splitting off to water softener, plant/aquaria, quasi-agricultural.

What I was using was kind of a diy sink/water storage area. I had a kind of fish room I simply passed the water through a standard, bought at Tru Value Hardware store, Lasco, I think was the brand, ice-maker filter cartridges, one de-limer in series with a charcoal filter; good for about 1500 gallons at about ¾ gallon per hour.

Then I moved up to a system I bought from Bulk Reef supply because frankly I change a lot of water around here. Chloramine Monster Bulk Reef Supply and it worked very well, though mine looked a little different.

The life of an Evil Plant Monster is more complicated than most would imagine or accept. Under my don’t complain, don’t explain rule, I don’t. No photos, perhaps 1 November.

Looks nice so far. You may find that you're quite overstocked but the width of the tank may be misleading in the photos. I noticed you had the venturi running on the filter in one photo, was that just to clear up the water or were you trying to run your CO2 through that as well? Are you still using your homebuilt bubble counter from the first page? Did you ever clear up the lack of bubbles with it?

-
S

Click to expand...

Oh the venturi is to provide aeration but i removed it already so it's just a filter now.

And i no longer using the DIY bubble counter bcoz i just got a C02 cylinder tank.

Below are my detail information for my tank

Tank Dimensions (45x35x35, CM):

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 16x2 (32)
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) :T5
Age of light bulbs : New
No. of hours your lights are on : 10am- 8pm (10 or slightly less)

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